Difference between Antiperspirants and Deodorants

Despite widely held beliefs:
Antiperspirants and Deodorants are NOT the same!

Nowadays advertising often disguises simple deodorants as antiperspirants.
People who are suffering from excessive sweating might find this frivolous branding misleading …

Deodorants – the word itself gives the hint – are products which are meant to prevent or mask body odour. Once invented as simple aerosol driven perfumes, deodorants got upgraded ever since. Today the cosmetic industry offers a wide range of products, most of them still are predominantly made from perfume ingredients (mostly synthetic btw) but some will also contain a minimum of aluminium cloride (1 % to 5 % max.) in order to reduce sweating. Others use modern (yet controversial) technologies, for example nano-scaled silver, anti-bacterial triclosan or parabens for skin care.

To cut a long story short: with a portion of only 5 % aluminium chloride (or less) these products can neither prevent slightly increased perspiration of healthy humans (for example under estival conditions) nor would they ever be able to stop severe sweating (see Hyperhidrosis)!

Deodorants will suceed to help with other things, though. They will provide a fresh and clean feeling throughout the day. Perfumes of one’s personal preference will set an individual note and hopefully others will enjoy this scent, too. The groth of dermal bacteria (which cause body odour) is kept low, either by disinfectants or by nano parcticles (such as silver or pentapeptides).

Antiperspirants, on the other hand, usually contain between 10 % and 30 % active ingredients. They are solely made for sweat relief. Antiperspirants do not contain any perfumes since these could cause unpleasant reactions (reddened skin or itching). Body odour is normally caused by the biodegration of sweat on the skin, so if the sweating gets significally reduced by antiperspirants, less odour can develop.

On a side note: Users of real antiperspirants should not use a deodorant with aluminium at the same time. Skin irritations or allergical reactions could occur.